Parliament

Debates postponed; Cader drama takes centre stage
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
With the government agreeing to postpone the debate on an urgent bill they had introduced to the Legislature to make the use of identity cards compulsory at future polls, much of the tension that had built up between the ruling party and the opposition somewhat subsided during sittings last week with the main bone of contention being a decision by Speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara to allow a UNP MP in remand custody to make a statement in the House.

Government members were angered by the Speaker's decision to grant permission to former Deputy Minister A.R.M.Abdul Cader, who is in remand custody, to make a statement in Parliament on Wednesday. Many government members argued that the matter was "sub judice" and Mr.Cader was a suspect in remand custody and could not speak in Parliament on issues relating to his case.

However the Speaker said he had examined the statement thoroughly and assured the House that there was nothing "sub judice" in it and amidst shouts of protest, Mr.Cader read out his statement. In it Mr.Cader detailed out the manner in which he was arrested and requested the Speaker to examine the matter and take prompt action to ensure this kind of treatment was not meted out to any MP in the future. Mr.Cader had obtained the permission of the Court to attend Parliament sessions as is allowed for MPs in custody.

During the past two years, two SLFP MPs Anuruddha Ratwatte and D.M.Dasanayake too were allowed to attend Parliament while in custody. Even though the Elections (Special Provisions) bill was not taken up for debate, Justice Minister John Seneviratne introduced it to the House stating that the government was taking the step to regain the people's confidence in the electoral process. "We saw that the number of voters had dropped drastically in the last elections. The introduction of the identity card will help restore people's faith in the polls," he said.

The Minister also assured the House that within six months, the government will issue identity cards to all those who do not have them. However, some members, especially those from the SLMC and TNA were sceptical about this becoming a reality. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said his party had no intention of blocking the legislation but wanted to make representations about the large number of Muslims who are displaced and without proper identity cards.

TNA's R.Sambandan also voiced his concern about this piece of legislation. He said there was substantial dislocation of people from the north and east and there were no electoral registers in some areas and many young people had not been registered as voters. "We have to make sure that this law does not make it difficult for certain sections of the people to exercise their franchise," he said.

Although it was not clear how long the opposition was seeking to postpone the passing of the Bill, River Basin Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the government would pass the bill soon and asked the Opposition to make favourable submissions instead of attempting to block the bill.

The JHU's Kalutara district MP Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera said the party would support the Bill. The UNP too said it supported the Bill but did not agree to it being rushed through Parliament. Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama moved an amendment to the Finance Act, which seeks to introduce a 100 per cent transfer tax on non-citizens who acquire land in the country. It is a law that was in place from 1963 to 2002 when the government at the time repealed it.

Minister Amunugama said this was not an attempt at banning foreigners from buying land in Sri Lanka but to give an opportunity to locals who too want to buy land at a reasonable rate. "The price of land has gone up in certain areas such as Galle because of the large number of foreigners buying land there. This is a disadvantage to the locals," he said.

The Minister added that companies coming under the BOI would be exempt from the tax as well as others that would be analysed on a case-by-case basis. Several UNP MPs who spoke cautioned the government on re-introducing the tax stating that it could deter foreign investors at a time when the country was in much need of them.

There wasn't 100 per cent agreement on the government side on the decision by the government to continue with concessions for some foreigners. UPFA Colombo district MP Wimal Weerawansa made an impassioned speech stating that the land and the people are interwoven with each other and the people of the country should be the owners of its land.

The JHUs Aturaliye Ratana Thera too held a similar view and said it was time to put a complete stop to foreigners buying land in the country. The debate was adjourned for another day. The Speaker also announced the Supreme Court ruling on the controversial anti conversion bill. Parliament also conducted a two-hour adjournment debate on the prevailing drought situation in the country and passed a condolence vote on the death of former Speaker K.B.Ratnayake.

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